Low-lifes steal generator

HOW low can you go? That's the question being asked by emergency service volunteers after low-life thieves stole an emergency generator.

The generator was stolen last week from the Rural Fire Service yard at Murwillumbah where it was stored on behalf of the State Emergency Service.

SES volunteer Donald Cowan said the generator, which was attached to a trailermounted mechanical sandbagging machine for use in floods in Murwillumbah, was unbolted sometime last Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.

Thieves cut their way through a chainwire fence to reach the machine and the generator which were hidden under a large metal cover.

Mr Cowan said it would have taken two men to carry the generator and they would have needed a trailer, ute or large wagon.

He said the generator, valued at more than $2000, powered the sandbagging machine which could fill a thousand sandbags an hour to protect shops and homes in Murwillumbah in a flood.